My 72 mav has an 8" rear w/ 4 lugs....is it possible to simply replace the axles, backing plates, and drums to convert it to 5 lugs or do i have to swap the entire rear? It already has 4:11 gears and a spool. Just got car home sunday and it's in a basket w/ a TON of extra parts. Once organized I will be posting my needs and am looking to barter extras with members.
No, the axle bearings and backing plate bolt pattern are larger on the 5-lug rear-end. Wish it was that easy.
You may want to consider not using the spool on the street, unless you like spin outs. You definitely don't want to drive with a spool on wet roads. Just an opinion from an old dad.
I agree with Hawko. From my own experience, Spool plus rain plus any sort of speeds and even a gentle bend makes for a scary ride. It's also really hard on tires and axles.
cant so it it will be out of balance if you want five lug get a 5 lug rearend and if you want to have some din with it put a posi in it but spools are no fun they twist on the whole car and the tires act like youre doing a burnout on anything more than a slight turn its just a cop magnet on the street
never wouldve thought that could be done without moving all of the studs just a little bit then I thought the axle would have to be balaced the 4 lug seems to be very square where the 5 lug is more of a star when you had yours done did they just dimply weld one in the center on top? or even just simply drill a new hole for the stud to stick through and thats it?
my Guy welded up the holes and then mounted it on an indexting fixture. then set it to drill the holes for a 5 lug Ford bolt pattern. when I went into his shop, he was making one sprocket to drive three chains...
An easier route would be to pull your center chunk and plug it into another 8 inch. I have always liked the idea of getting one an inch wider than stock, like a late 60s Falcon. You can put more rear tire under the Mav with stock offset wheels that way. They are all 28 spline and most of them have the same spring pad width. I drove mine with a 4.62 gear and locked rear. Everything said above is true. You will annoy everyone just driving through parking lots. You don't even need rain to get the car sideways, just surface grease and too much throttle. You can also do sideways burnouts like an old Fuel Altered ... Just stab it and the car will go wherever you steer it. My wife wouldn't ride in the car anymore. She wanted to drive it on a nicely prepped dragstrip, but not ride shotgun on greasy asphalt streets. I'm back to a 3:55 gear now. You will get over having a locked rear quick if you drive the car much.
